Golf Games for Your Golf Tournament

This list is published because when I looked for a list of games and contests for Golf Meetings, I couldn't find one. I just found links to things I could buy that would give me this list. Maybe it was a bad search or maybe the search rankings for what I wanted were low. Anyway, enjoy:

Longest Drive Contest
- Straight long hole
- Place marker in the fairway to designate the distance
- Drive must be in the fairway
- Two prizes for men and women

Straight Drive
- Draw a chalk line down a long straight fairway
- Marker with golfers name
- Longest and closest to the line wins

Closest to the Pin
- Closest shot to the pin on a par 3 hole
- Marker with golfer’s name
- Measuring tape on the hole

Long Putt
- On any green
- Measuring tape and marker on hole to mark longest putt

Shortest Drive
- Gag prize, tough to monitor

Longest Putter Drive
- Longest drive with a putter
- Or longest/straightest drive with a putter

5-Iron Hole
- Play the hole with one club the entire hole
- 5-iron suggested
- Winner, lowest # strokes

One-club Challenge
- Have everyone play the whole tournament with one club

Hole-in-one
- Staged on a par 3
- Have two volunteers at hole: one at tee one at hole w/ flag
- Prize sponsor has witness there

Left-handed Hole
- All golfers play with club opposite of their strong side
- Have two full sets of clubs there – left and right handed

On Your Knees
- Play the hole off your knees

Skills Challenge
- Compete in categories: long drive, fairway shot, chip shot, trouble shot, sand shot, putting, etc.
- Winner scores the best in all of the combined areas

Putting Contest
- Straight putt
- Mini course with hazards, happy Gilmore style or otherwise

Skins Game
- Cash into pot
- Winner scores the lowest on a particular hole
- Winner scores the lowest on a series of holes, can give $ for winner of each hole and grand winner of all holes a prize also

Sandy Hole
- Prize for any par after being in the sand

Woody Hole
- Prize for any par after hitting a tree

Low Putts
- Prize for golfer with least amount of putts in the round

Nassau Style
- Divides 18 round hole into 3 competitions, front 9, back 9, and the total 18

Meeting Industry Still Taking Mulligan's with ROI

Despite solid evidence from the training industry that ROI is irrelevant at the ‘event’ level, the meeting industry still has individuals taking swing after swing to have ROI land as a value measure of meetings.

The July Golf supplement issue from Successful Meetings was informative and accurate. The only distraction was the ROI reference on the cover.

Edward Schmidt, Jr. did a great job with the main article golf meetings bring stimulus to business. He managed to cover a great deal, include specific examples, and not once did he mention ROI in his article.

Peter Bonnell hit a hole-in-one with his acknowledgement of meeting planners being the key to communicating the value of golf.

Jo Ann Hoffman shot eagle with her comment that the game is an educational process that brings out one's character during the game.

Michael Wilkins reference to the value lessons incorporated in the game were a victory for the link between golf and business meetings.

It was a shame that the cover, again went to the misleading term ROI. While the training industry has begun to acknowledge that ROI is an irrelevant measure for individual programs and events, and also suggests that attempts to promote ROI as a value measure look foolish to the financial executives of organizations, it seems the meeting industry is still trying to mis quantify the value of meetings with the application of the ROI terminology. It is especially unfortunately because pushing for ROI valuation for events by the meeting industry it is an example of the very ignorance regarding meeting value that the industry should be fighting.

Clear, forthright communication is the key to meeting valuation getting back in the fairway, and continually attempts to misalign financial terminology to fabricate a measurement of a meetings value is like cheating on your golf card.

Jeffrey Hanslerjhansler@oxfordco.com